A former police officer who solicited and accepted thousands of dollars in bribes from a brothel owner in exchange for protecting them from law enforcement has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison, according to federal prosecutors.

Julio Rivera, 52, an Old Bridge resident who served on the Newark police force, must also pay $17,408 in restitution and will forfeit $79,941 as part of the 46-mont prison term imposed Wednesday. He'll also have to serve three years of supervised release once he's freed and perform 1,000 hours of community service.

Rivera had pleaded guilty in January 2020 to bribery and aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false personal tax return. He started taking the payments in 2011 and continued through November 2016, accepting between $40,000 and $95,000 overall from a person who ran brothels in Newark, prosecutors said.

In 2015, Rivera began sending his girlfriend to receive the payments at a clothing store. In text messages, he referred to the payments as “food,” prosecutors have said.